Origin: posted by Bella L to the original La Bella Journeys on 7/7/2016

“Racism is nothing new to me.
I’ve been confronted with it most of my life.
That tends to happen when you are the child of black and white parents.
When you are Mixed.
It tends to happen…
When people feel they “Just have to know… What are you?”
It tends to happen…
When Adults feel they have a right to touch your hair when you are a child,
but not because you are a cute child…
but because your hair is “interesting” or “different”.
It tends to happen…
When you are in 3rd grad and your classmates tell you
that since your skin is light,
you don’t have to tell anyone that your black mom is your mom,
“nobody needs to know”
since your dad is white.
It tends to happen…
When you get to high school
and white kids make racists jokes in front of you and say
“You understand right?”
since “You aren’t really black anyway…”,
or they call you “Nigger, I mean Negro”
because “Well, I’m just saying black in spanish”,
and you’re only white enough to run with their crowd
when nobody is dating you
or it makes them look cultured.
It tends to happen,
When you realize the color of your skin is a toxic presence
once you open your mouth about injustice…
even to some of the people you have grown up with,
entrusted your heart too,
and thought of as family.
Racism…
Its not new to me.”  

-“Racism”, a poem